Judge Denies Apple Injunction Against Amazon's Appstore

Wednesday July 6, 2011 7:05 pm PDT by Jordan Golson

A federal judge has denied Apple's preliminary injunction demanding Amazon stop using the term "appstore" for its Android marketplace. Apple sued Amazon back in March and asked U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton to immediately order Amazon to cease using the term. Apple believes the term is trademark protected.

Several weeks ago, the judge in the case expressed her skepticism regarding Apple's argument that "App Store" should be a non-generic trademark and today ruled that Apple has not thus far established "a likelihood of confusion" between Apple and Amazon's app stores.

A preliminary injunction is an order by the court to restrain a particular activity, usually ordered if the judge believes there is substantial likelihood of success on the merits of the case, or if there is a substantial threat of irreparable damage if the injunction is not granted, among other reasons

I don't mean that Apple should control the term but has it been established who first used the term.

Come on, we only need to look back 5 years to get this information. How hard could it be.

We need to look back at least fifty years, not five.

Back in 1960 there were groups and books dedicated to Computer Applications, (http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Applications-1960-Proceedings-Symposium/dp/B0006DIAFS/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310007027&sr=1-2) and I'm pretty sure the use of the word with computers dates back at least another ten years to the early 1950s.

As for "app", my resume stated Embedded Application Programmer back in the early 1980s, and we used "embedded app" all the time. I guarantee you that "app" dates back as long as "application" does.

I've also already posted articles from 2000 and 2001 where Windows Mobile and Palm writers talked about "apps" for their devices.

The upshot is: neither "application" nor "app" is a new term.

NOBODY in the ENTIRE TECH WORLD ever used the term "app" or "app store" until Apple coined these phrase, and Apple trademarked it as well!

You've obviously missed all the months of discussion about this topic. For one thing, the very similar word "Appstore" was trademarked years before Apple did, by another company who later gave it up. So it's not a totally new idea.

All these other wannabe companies, like Amazon, are all trying to hitch a free ride on Apple's coattails, when Apple did all the hard work of blazing this trail for them and trademarking this term for themselves!

All the above said, I do agree that Apple was the first to widely use the slang term "app store" instead of "application store". Not sure that merits a trademark, though.

If you don't believe that Apple can trademark "App Store" and keep it for their own use (and they sure as hell should be able to do both), then how in the world can Microsoft get away with trademarking the COMPLETELY GENERIC TERM "Windows"?

"Windows" does not generically refer to an operating system. "App store" generically refers to an application store. Even Apple's top brass used "app store" generically in reference to their competitor's markets.

it would be like someone trying to come out with their own "iTunes Store". It's totally ridiculous, and Apple will ultimately win this trial.

It's not like that at all. "iTunes" is a made up word and clearly belongs to Apple. "App" is a slang word that's been in use by developers for decades.

Sorry folks, but Apple is 100% in the right on this one, and if the justice system works, then they will ultimately win this trial.

NOBODY in the ENTIRE TECH WORLD ever used the term "app" or "app store" until Apple coined these phrase, and Apple trademarked it as well! All these other wannabe companies, like Amazon, are all trying to hitch a free ride on Apple's coattails, when Apple did all the hard work of blazing this trail for them and trademarking this term for themselves!

If you don't believe that Apple can trademark "App Store" and keep it for their own use (and they sure as hell should be able to do both), then how in the world can Microsoft get away with trademarking the COMPLETELY GENERIC TERM "Windows"? The term "windows" was used constantly by every human, every single day, in both technology and out of technology.

It would be INSANE for Microsoft to be able to have "Windows" to themselves, if Apple can't have the totally-justified "App Store" all to themselves.

it would be like someone trying to come out with their own "iTunes Store". It's totally ridiculous, and Apple will ultimately win this trial.

You should first ask Steve Jobs to NOT use App Store in a generic way. Then we can talk. OK?

Sorry folks, but Apple is 100% in the right on this one, and if the justice system works, then they will ultimately win this trial.

NOBODY in the ENTIRE TECH WORLD ever used the term "app" or "app store" until Apple coined these phrase, and Apple trademarked it as well! All these other wannabe companies, like Amazon, are all trying to hitch a free ride on Apple's coattails, when Apple did all the hard work of blazing this trail for them and trademarking this term for themselves!

If you don't believe that Apple can trademark "App Store" and keep it for their own use (and they sure as hell should be able to do both), then how in the world can Microsoft get away with trademarking the COMPLETELY GENERIC TERM "Windows"? The term "windows" was used constantly by every human, every single day, in both technology and out of technology.

It would be INSANE for Microsoft to be able to have "Windows" to themselves, if Apple can't have the totally-justified "App Store" all to themselves.

it would be like someone trying to come out with their own "iTunes Store". It's totally ridiculous, and Apple will ultimately win this trial.

Are you serious? "NOBODY in the ENTIRE TECH WORLD ever used the term "app" or "app store" until Apple coined these phrase"? Ever hear of a Killer App (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_app)? App is short for Application, and has been used since the beginning of personal computing! Just because you hadn't heard it doesn't mean other people didn't use it.

Now that being said, I think this case could go either way. Even if Apple loses making this case is a good business move. If they win, they will have secured a very valuable trademark.

NOBODY in the ENTIRE TECH WORLD ever used the term "app" or "app store" until Apple coined these phrase, and Apple trademarked it as well! All these other wannabe companies, like Amazon, are all trying to hitch a free ride on Apple's coattails, when Apple did all the hard work of blazing this trail for them and trademarking this term for themselves!

It would be INSANE for Microsoft to be able to have "Windows" to themselves, if Apple can't have the totally-justified "App Store" all to themselves.

it would be like someone trying to come out with their own "iTunes Store". It's totally ridiculous, and Apple will ultimately win this trial.

Are we really going to go threw this for the 4th or 5th time now. We already showed App store was used before Apple started to used the term.
The term App has been in use since I know the 80's.

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